Everything felt so cold. It was like icy tendrils had slipped around your skin and pulled you down to the bottom of the Black Lake, drowning in the chill waters. It was dark too, but you could still faintly hear the uproar of a battle being fought around you.
After failing to see anything despite how hard you searched, you finally screwed your eyes shut and prayed that it was all just some strange dream. That the last thing you saw being a flash of green striking you chest was simply a hallucination, and that you hadn’t been sprinting over to the man you loved before a collapsing wall could crush him. But it wasn’t some nightmare you could wake from- it was reality. You had failed to reach him before you were cursed… and you would never know if he made it out of there alive.
Oh, Freddie…
The next time you opened your eyes, there were no longer the sounds of the chaos and strife filling the air. Instead, it was almost quiet, save for the sniffles and sobs of sorrow within the Great Hall.
You could see again, you realized, and you looked around at all of the familiar faces. Every one of them was grief stricken, bruised, and exhausted. They all looked like hell, and you were sure that you fared no better. But despite how many of your classmates you seemed to lock eyes with, none of them had any reaction to give. They just continued to stare ahead, as if they were looking right through you.
You looked down at your feet, and nearly toppled over. You were standing over a body; your own body to be exact.
How could this even be possible?
Raising your hands to inspect them, you realized that they were indeed translucent. Beneath them, you could still see your body, posed in a way that looked like you were sleeping rather than dead. In fact, your face looked rather peaceful, and you found yourself feeling very grateful that those who would see your face, would see you as you used to be. Calm, relaxed, and content.
A sharp wail yanked you out of your thoughts, and you turned to the right to see a family all huddled together, their ginger hair setting them apart from the others. The Weasley family, mourning a loved one they lost in the battle.
Terror filled your gut, and you made my way over to the family. Unsurprisingly, nobody noticed you coming up behind them, and you were able to pick up on some of the whispers around them.
“First Y/N, and now this?”
“That poor mother…”
“He was too young…”
The sickened feeling in you only increased and you tried to rid yourself of those whispers, forcing them to stop bouncing around your head. It couldn’t be Fred, it just couldn’t be. He had to have survived the attack— Percy probably pushed him out of the way in time. Maybe that was who the whispers were about instead! Sure, it pained you to think that Percy had passed on in the battle, but you simply refused to believe that it was Fred.
You circled around the family just as Ron collapsed beside the still form of one of his family members. As you stepped up closer to see the face of the frozen body, you realized that it was indeed one of the Weasley children. Upon even closer inspection, your deepest fears came true.
You stumbled backwards, away from the family, away from the body of the one person you prayed would come out of this mess alive. Your own cries filled your ears, though they fell silent on the ears of the many people around you. Nobody else would ever know the heartbreak you were feeling in that moment— though that may have been for the better.
Perhaps it was best for both of you to be gone, so nobody would have to see how broken either of you were without the other. The only caveat, of course, being George… it was far too cruel of the world to separate him from his brother.
“Y/N?” A distant voice called, and you felt another shock rip through your body.
Impossible.
You searched around wildly for the owner of that voice. There was just no way— he couldn’t—
“Behind you, love.”
Whipping around, you found yourself staring at the very face you had just been mourning.
“Fred?” You croaked, voice thick from tears.
“In the flesh. Well, maybe not flesh.” He said, flashing his trademark grin, though his eyes didn’t light up like they usually did.
Reaching out a tentative hand, you cupped his cheek and let out a relieved sigh when you realized that you could in fact touch him. He leaned into your hand before pressing a kiss to your palm, then took your left hand in his and placed another kiss on the ring that still adorned your finger.
“I made a vow to you, didn’t I? I promised I’d never leave you.”
Tears filled your eyes again and rolled down your cheeks in silvery streaks, yet you couldn’t help but laugh. “Technically speaking, we never officially made those vows.”
Fred shrugged. “Who cares about a blasted wedding anyways. As long as I have you, none of that matters to me.”
For fear of bursting into tears again, you instead wrapped your arms around him and hid your face against his chest. He hugged you tight, and for the first time since this battle had started, you felt safe again.
As long as you had Fred, everything would be just fine.
“Come on, the others will want to see you while everything is still quiet.” Fred murmured against your hair.
“The others?” You asked, pulling away and wiping at your eyes.
He nodded and took your hand again, giving you a gentle tug towards the Great Hall doors. “Everyone we've lost… they’re all waiting. Cedric and Remus especially, they’ll want to see that you’re okay. Or… well, as okay as a ghost can be.”
Falling into step beside him, you left his grieving family behind for now, but you’d be sure to come back to them soon enough. “Are they all ghosts too?” You asked.
Fred shook his head. “Only a few, us included. But we can move between here and the afterlife as we please. Just wait until you meet James and Lily.”
You went stock still at the mere mention of the couple who had passed on so many years ago. “As in Lily and James Potter? Harry’s parents?”
“The very same.” Fred nodded. “Like I said, everyone we lost over the years are waiting.”
Your grip on Fred’s hand tightened for a second and you drew in a stabilizing breath, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”
And as you crossed the threshold of the Great Hall and went to greet the familiar faces of those already passed, both of you failed to notice someone watching the pair of you leave. Behind you, still standing with the Weasley family, George watched you step out of the doors and turn down the hall, his own small smile present on his face. Because despite the pain in his chest and the cries of his family around him, he knew that he hadn’t lost his two best friends forever.